Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker, P.L.L.C.

Business Attorneys

Formation • Business Counseling • Special Counsel Services

The business counseling group of Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker, P.L.L.C. has a distinguished history of providing insightful and pragmatic counsel to a wide variety of companies, both publicly and privately owned, on a full spectrum of corporate, partnership, limited liability company, general business and financial matters.

Business Formation and Acquisition

Our business attorneys assist our clients in selecting the optimal business structure to achieve their objectives. We regularly draw upon the experience and commercial, real estate, and tax expertise of our group to create business structures which help our clients reduce their liability exposure, minimize tax exposure, and operate efficiently. Our business attorneys also represent clients acquiring ongoing businesses through stock or asset purchases or merger.

Business Counseling

Following a business formation or acquisition, we are frequently called upon to provide creative, pragmatic solutions for the challenges our clients face in running their business during all stages of the business life cycle, including, but not limited to, strategic planning, structuring, negotiating and documenting complex commercial transactions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships, protecting intellectual property, employment matters, resolving internal disputes, and mergers, acquisitions, sales of businesses, and reorganizations.

Negotiating and Documenting Complex Transactions

The practical experience and technical expertise of our business lawyers allow us to skillfully negotiate various forms of business transactions including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other business combinations. We also help clients with the purchases and sales of assets, stock and various other types of transactions. Our business attorneys are adept at negotiating and drafting commercial agreements, including leases, employment and independent contractor agreements, and shareholder, partnership and limited liability company agreements.

Protection of Intellectual Property

Our clients work hard to develop their products and build their businesses. As part of business counseling services, we work closely with clients in drafting and negotiating non-competition agreements, non-solicitation agreements, and non-disclosure agreements to protect the intellectual property, trade secrets and business and employee relationships they have developed, and enforce these agreements through litigation, if necessary. Recognizing the value of a good name, we also assist clients in securing trademark and service mark protection in Michigan, throughout the United States and, when appropriate, worldwide.

Employer Counseling

Working with our employment attorneys, our business attorneys advise and counsel employers on aspects of federal and state laws relating to the hiring, retention and termination of employees including, but not limited to, the Michigan Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act (exempt vs. non-exempt), COBRA, and state and federal civil rights statutes. As part of our employer counseling services, we also review and draft employment contracts, severance agreements, employee policies, employee manuals and other employment related documents.

Shareholder, Partner, LLC Member Disputes

Our business attorneys regularly represent businesses and individuals involved in disputes or other types of business conflicts and fashion creative and efficient solutions to these complex issues, oftentimes without resort to litigation. If litigation is unavoidable, our business attorneys work closely with our commercial litigation attorneys to provide our clients with optimal representation in their case.

Succession Planning

For many of our clients, the businesses they have built represent the product of decades of hard work and careful planning which they want to continue to prosper after they are no longer actively involved in the business. We work closely with our estate planning attorneys to develop business succession plans that work, not only from a business perspective, but which are also optimal from an estate planning perspective.

Special Counsel to Corporations

We regularly act as special counsel to corporations where their primary outside counsel has an ethical conflict, and we also assist many national commercial and financial institutions on single transactions as well as on Michigan laws affecting their businesses. Among our attorneys are the former general counsel of Michigan's largest retail chain and the former general counsel of one of Michigan's largest utilities.

Commercial Transactions

The long-term representation of businesses consists not only of the normal activities which affect every company at some time but, more importantly, the ability to counsel in extraordinary situations which often define (if not create) innovative relationships and opportunities “outside the box”.  We bring together common sense, business sense, and legal skill to pursue outstanding results for our clients in all assignments.

Mergers and Acquisitions

The firm’s M&A practice largely involves transactions on behalf of existing clientele, and referrals from firms who find themselves conflicted in specific situations.  Our practice includes companies large and small, public and closely held, from startups to seasoned industry leaders.  Working in tandem with client representatives, accountants, consultants and other professionals, we seek to maintain team focus on superior achievement with efficiently minimum staffing.  Interdisciplinary support from specialties such as tax, labor and litigation is available and utilized whenever appropriate.

Legislative & Governmental Relations

BSD&D has handled legislative matters, including drafting legislation, building support coalitions, working with legislators and their staffs and pursuing legislation through enactment.  We have represented numerous clients, large and small, in dealing with licensing boards and other state and federal agencies.

We can provide corporations and other institutions with strategic guidance and training in techniques of dealing with elected officials, regulators and the civil service.

Labor Relations & Employment Law

The firm’s labor relations and employment law practice includes representation of management before the National Labor Relations Board and state labor boards. We also represent management in union contract negotiations, grievances and arbitrations.  We also represent both management and executives in negotiating executive compensation and severance arrangements.

In addition to our defense of  wrongful discharge and employment discrimination suits, we also practice litigation prevention.  We draft employment manuals and applications,  and provide counseling on employment terminations to minimize our clients' exposure to potential lawsuits.

Among our many clients in this area are two of Michigan's largest utilities, a major automobile manufacturer, numerous Fortune 500 companies and many small and medium-sized local and regional companies.  We also have represented two of the nation's largest unions in business-related litigation, and having acted as corporate and tax counsel to a large international union.

Immigration & Naturalization

The firm has an active immigration law practice.  We have handled much executive and professional immigration, while acting as  immigration counsel to a major Detroit hospital system and a multi-national, high-tech manufacturing firm. 

We also have a state-of-the-art computerized document generation system to increase efficiency and lower the cost of providing businesses with immigration assistance.  We believe this system provides an important and highly personal service in today’s global economy.

Taxation

Our tax attorneys function as an integral part of the corporate and business counseling group.  On an as-needed basis, they provide an important team approach to many transactions, including issues in the creation, sale, purchase and dissolution of business and real estate entities, partnership issues, pension planning, employee benefits and executive compensation.  This interdisciplinary approach enables us to assist clients in structuring transactions that meet business objectives in the most tax-effective manner.

We also handle the tax aspects of work-outs, and represent  lenders in the restructuring of real estate loans.  Whether in transactions or in litigation support, our tax attorneys provide our clients with a full understanding of  tax consequences and help to develop creative solutions seeking tax results.